by syaffolee

Discussion works out fairly well in graduate level courses, but I have mixed feelings about the undergraduate courses. I don’t think abolishing all lectures would be the answer–I learn in part by taking notes. Especially in chalkboard/whiteboard lectures, there’s something about the process of hearing, seeing, translating the material in my mind, and then writing it which helps lodge the information into my head.

I can tell you, though, what sort of lectures I despise–the PowerPoint lecture. PowerPoint works okay for a seminar where the speaker’s aim is to give the high points and the take home message. But a lecture where every slide is going to count in the final exam? No. Not even if the slides are copied for all the students. PowerPoint condones laziness on all sides: the professor drops a bunch of figures onto the slide with a click of a mouse and babbles the info he already knows without much forethought about how the audience is going to absorb the information; the students treat the slides as an extension of their textbook (which 90% of them won’t read anyway) and don’t bother to take notes because, look!, the prof isn’t writing anything down himself. I coped with such lectures by semi-transcribing the speech. I didn’t even bother looking at the pictures since I already knew I could scrounge out a copy somewhere.

The idea that a student reads material before class and then participates in a discussion to actually learn has merit. But I really don’t think this would work on huge groups as mentioned in the essay. Ten students, max. Because if most students are like me, only the loud mouths, know-it-alls, and teacher’s pets will be doing any discussing. Discussion is virtually impossible in settings where there are too many people to fit around a table. Instead, it’s more like a two- or three-way ping-pong match with lots of observers.